Malware malefactors are increasingly using fake anti-virus products as a means to infect PCs with Trojans and other harmful software.
Panda Security says its laboratory has detected an increase in this kind of activity. The company says the fake products often appear to be free downloads.
The applications pass themselves off as anti-virus utilities, or are concealed in other files downloaded by users, including music or video.
Once on a system, they tell users - who are often unaware the application is on their system - that a virus has been detected. Users are then invited to buy the full version of the anti-virus to disinfect the computer.
Panda says readers can see an example of these fake anti-virus programs at http://www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/2678703471.
If users don't purchase the anti-virus, it continues displaying non-existent infections and pop-ups, inviting users to purchase the fake security software - which, in reality, does not detect or delete anything. Those who buy it will have paid for a useless program.
More sophisticated
"This is how cyber-crooks reach their main objective: to profit financially through malware," says Jeremy Matthews, Panda's head of sub-Saharan operations.
Additionally, to prevent users from checking whether they are genuinely infected or not, these programs usually attempt to block the Web pages of real online anti-virus scans, as well as security vendors' sites.
"Initially, these fake anti-virus programs were quite basic; however, they are becoming more sophisticated to prevent detection by real security solutions," Matthews says.
"Many have become polymorphic - which means they are able to change their form every time they are installed on a computer. This investment proves cyber-crooks are obtaining significant financial benefits and, consequently, many users must have fallen victim to this fraud."
How to avoid falling victim:
* Users should carefully select what they install and check what they are downloading.
* Ignore e-mails with eye-catching news or subjects: These often invite users to click a link to watch a video or images of the false news. If they do, they may be allowing some kind of malware to enter their computer.
* Be suspicious of unusual behaviour: Be wary if an unknown program begins to display false infections or pop-ups inviting comparisons with some type of anti-virus.
* Keep all programs up-to-date: An outdated program is a potentially vulnerable program.
* Scan computers with a reliable security solution.
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